Borussia Dortmund welcome Stuttgart on Friday evening knowing that three points would move the club top of the Bundesliga table.
The Champions League finalists currently sit second in the table – one point behind leaders Bayern Munich – having won eight, drawn one and lost one of their 10 fixtures to date.
They enter the match off the back of a 3-1 win over Schalke 04 at the weekend, which was their third straight victory in all competitions and their fourth in their last five games.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, have drawn each of their last three matches in the league. They have made a fairly solid start to the season, however, with 13 points from their eight matches leaving them in eighth position in the table.
The corresponding match last season ended in a goalless draw in November 2012, but Dortmund were 2-1 winners when they made the trip to Stuttgart in March.
Dortmund have no fresh injury concerns from their win over Schalke and could therefore line up with the same XI, which means Jakub Blaszczykowski will start on the bench.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, meanwhile, will provide support to the lone striker Robert Lewandowski, whose own future remains unresolved.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, have no fresh injury concerns from their 1-1 draw with Nurnberg last time out. Vedad Ibisevic should continue in attack alongside Martin Harnik, but Cacau will also be hoping for a start.
Recent form
Dortmund: WLWWW
Stuttgart: LWDDD
Possible lineups
Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Grosskreutz, Hummels, Subotic, Schmelzer; Bender, Sahin; Reus, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang; Lewandowski
Stuttgart: Ulreich; Schwaab, Haggui, Niedermeier, Boka; Kvist, Traore, Gentner, Maxim; Harnik; Ibisevic
Sports Mole says: 2-0
Matt Law
